Sandwiched between the popular Symphonies Nos. 7 and 9, the relatively short Eighth Symphony finds itself in a difficult position even now. Right after the premiere in February 1814, one critic opined that it had made ''no splash''. At first glance it makes recourse to already outmoded forms and genres, even reviving a minuet for the third movement (in lieu of a slow movement) after an Allegretto scherzoso. But Beethoven engages intensively with music history, breaking apart traditional procedur